Thursday, August 18, 2011

Using Description Wisely and Purposely


Using Description Wisely and Purposely

             Good description takes on many forms and doesn’t rely solely on adverbs and adjectives.  A simple description, “The man looked upset.” could be all that is needed.  It’s not the number of adjectives in a sentence it’s in the accurate detail and relevance of what you are describing.

The man looked upset.  He pushed the ticket, to the movie that already started, through the small glass window.  His foul mood disappeared from my mind when I turned my gaze into Ginger’s deep brown loving eyes and time seemed to stop.  I was captivated by her rained soaked brown hair.  A droplet of water rested comfortably on to her soft flushed cheek that I gentle brushed away with my finger.  The sunshiny kid’s smile that burst from her heart on to her face from my gesture defied the gloom of the torrential rain fall outside the theater.   I knew then that her beaming smile would guide me to happiness for the rest of my life.

I put as much description in when I’m writing a book.  I try to be like I’m the Sherlock Holmes of writing with out telling the reader directly.  Some details I give are not always relevant until the next chapter.  Some details relate to the plot as a subliminal hint.  When I rewrite I take a step back and make sure that my descriptions are relevant to the moment in the story or tie in with the plot in some way.  If they are not, no matter how good I think they are, I take them out.

The moment in the story two paragraphs above isn’t about the upset man giving me the movie ticket.  It’s about the moment I realized I am in love with Ginger.  If I was to describe the upset man too much it would draw the reader’s attention away from what was important in the scene.  If the ticket guy had a pirate’s patch over one eye with bright red clown type of hair that a veteran circus performer would be envious of, it would take away from the romantic moment and the point of the scene.

It is a tricky balance of not making your descriptions the star of your book.  I believe it should share the stage with the plot too.

Keep Writing
            Matt T. Schott
https://sites.google.com/site/lordskylerandtheedf/


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